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Thursday, December 22, 2016

In The Age of _____, Speaking Arabic Gets You Kicked Off A Delta Flight

And, since, for now, we are in The Age of _____, let’s talk blatant hate and blatant fear and blatant stupidity ...

Adam Saleh, a YouTube vlogger whose prank videos have made him an internet star, is accusing Delta Air Lines of kicking him off flight because he spoke Arabic to his mom on the phone before takeoff.

“I speak to my mom on the phone every flight. She only speaks Arabic.”—Adam Saleh

According to Saleh, a woman in the seat in front of him turned around and told him he should speak English. He told her he can speak whatever language he likes, and then her husband stood up and began screaming at him.

And from there the hate swarmed as about twenty other passengers said they were uncomfortable with Saleh and his “foreign” tongue. Saleh was then approached by the captain—whom Saleh said “seemed ashamed and embarrassed”—and asked Saleh to leave the plane because of passengers complaints.

In a statement, Delta said:

“Maintaining a safe, comfortable and orderly onboard environment is paramount for every flight and requires the cooperation of all of our customers in conjunction with adherence to directions from our crew members. This is a Delta policy and is required by U.S. regulations as well as others governing aviation worldwide.

Two customers were removed from Delta flight 1 departing London-Heathrow today after a disturbance in the cabin resulted in more than 20 customers expressing their discomfort.

We have spoken with the customers who were removed; they were rebooked on another flight. Plans are in place to immediately speak with our crew and other passengers when the flight lands this afternoon. We will provide an update once we have more information.”

Okay, how do I put this delicately: fuck you, Delta. Why not remove the twenty bigots from the plane? Why not remove the people who started the disturbance by listening in on Saleh’s private conversation? Again, fuck you, Delta.

Saleh posted a video of his removal and posted it to YouTube; in that video, some passengers can be seen telling the Delta employees that they did not want Saleh removed, while others are seen waving and saying “bye” as he walks away.

Again, the disturbance was caused by that nosy woman and her loudmouthed husband; they should have been removed from the flight at once.

Some of the passengers on the flight spoke to CBS News after the plane landed at JFK, like Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson:

“It was clear that this guy knew what he was doing, because as he was leaving the plane he would stop, he would kind of make eye-contact with people. He would say ‘Delta, Delta is kicking me off the plane.’ He wasn’t alone; he was travelling with somebody else.”

Of course he knew, you idiot; he was being walked off the plane. And, what does it matter if he was travelling with someone else. This all started because he spoke Arabic and a handful of bigots got their feelings hurt.

Jacqueline Willemsen:

“I was sitting towards the front of the plane and just heard a lot of commotion actually. When he came up to the front he was just screaming that it was an injustice and that he was being kicked off for speaking loudly in Arabic. To be really honest it seemed like more of a scene than anything that actually happened.”

Um, Jacqueline, you moronic tool, something did happen. How else do you explain him being kicked off the plane?

Chris Ashford:

“I think the guy was giving a bit of a prayer, just before take-off, which is not unusual. Somebody heard him speaking in Arabic and I think reported him ... whether Delta performed or acted in the manner they were supposed to, I’m assuming, for protocol, yes. There definitely seemed to be a bit of a misunderstanding.”

Does Delta have a list of acceptable languages to be used on a plane? if not, then, again, Delta, fuck you, because, despite skepticism about Saleh’s account, Delta employees have been accused of discriminating against Muslims in recent years.

In August, an Ohio Muslim couple said they were removed from a return flight from Europe after an airline employee allegedly singled them out because, ALLEGEDLY, the woman wearing a headscarf and talking on the phone, and with the husband sweating.

Delta issued them a full refund of their airfare.

Look, was there a kerfuffle between Saleh and some passengers? It seems very likely, but was Saleh loud and shouting profanities? Maybe. But then remove all of those involved, not you Saleh and his friend. Was Saleh being the prankster on the flight? Maybe; but he didn't start the brouhaha.

Remove the woman and her husband who started the mess; remove every person who joined in. I wouldn’t feel unsafe hearing a person speaking Arabic on a flight but I’d be scared shitless of the people, who verbally assaulted the person speaking Arabic.

They are the problem, but, in the Age of _____, they are acting like the victims.